Portraits : Archie Cooper, the bass, the blues, the bliss.

Archie Cooper is one special composer to me. I discovered him a few years ago while i was desperatly looking for some good music to deejay !

Honestly i was not at ease with dubstep, no that i don’t like it. I just didn’t how to transmit the vibe through my mixes. I just got out of Baile Funk, compelled… the quality tracks that we got at the beginning of the expansion of this music revolution seemed to have vanished. But i was still eager for some bass music and then there was Archie Cooper. Everyone can have a definition for bass music. Archie is mine. His work on the bass spectrum has been and still is an amazement for me. And his remixes focused on inspiring tracks ranging from Nirvana to old blues music are something i value in my collection of electronic music.

Generation Bass : Can you tell us a bit more about your musical career, when and how have you started ?

Archie Cooper : I was always messing around with sound when I was a kid. I would take apart every piece of electronics in the house (Everything that I could without getting into trouble.) to make feedback and other unpleasant noises, mess around with my parents records and play them by hand. Stuff like that. As a teenager I made tape loops and even portable horn style gramophones using construction paper and thumbtacks as a stylus. But it didn’t really click until a friend introduced me to turntablism in my mid twenties. Once that happened I spent every spare second practicing and learning how to battle. Then I moved into production and DJing at parties, clubs, raves, festivals and I even spent some time in a resident improv jazz band as a scratch/sample drummer. I feel the need to experience every aspect of electronic music but production is the one thing that has always been there and always will be. I look at myself as a writer and everything else comes after that.

GenBass : Where do you get your inspiration ?

AC : I get most of my inspiration from experimenting. When I find something that has potential I just can’t leave it alone until I develop it. It really snowballs from there.

GenBass : You describe your music as glitched-dub. First time i heard you i thought « that’s bass music ! ». How have you come up with that style ?

AC : Bass music has always been my favorite. It’s so tactile. Glitch is just the icing on the cake. I feel it makes the music more raw. More human. It reminds the listener that an imperfect human made it. It has mistakes and it keeps me connected to that little boy who used to break things to see what sounds were born in deconstruction.

Bassnectar – Cozza Frenzy (Archie Cooper’s 4 Story Drop Mix)

GenBass : You seem to have a very close connection to Blues music, can you tell us more about it ?

AC : I love the blues. It’s usually out of tune and off time but it’s so honest. So real. I feel the need to keep it alive and it works into my style in a natural way.

Archie Cooper – Have Mercy

John Lee Hooker – Drifter

GenBass : « When you’ve stripped yourself of material possessions, money and labels… when you realize that in the end you can’t take any of it with you and you commit yourself to voluntary poverty… all there is left to leave behind is stories, songs, words, images, loves, memories and feelings… those are the vestiges that make a difference. What a beautiful thing. »

AC : Yes. It’s like… if money didn’t matter anymore, if you didn’t have to spend time earning it, what would you do? Who would you do it with? I think our current way of life puts too much emphasis on getting stuff we don’t need and we lose sight of the simple things. We miss out.

GenBass : What are your new projects ? And possibly new trends you want to explore ?

This year I’ll be releasing a few projects. One is all blues joints from my earlier days. B-sides and stuff that never got released properly. Another is a live recording from a festival last year and the third will feature my newest material. I’ve been working towards an amalgamation of everything I’ve learned over the years. After that I’ll start developing new ideas until I can bring it all together again.

All albums and EPs are available onArchie Cooper’s website. It’s a “name your price” thing, so feel free to support the artist in any kind of way you find fit.